Ok, I was intrigued by the premise, an extreme survival reality TV game, that goes wrong (obviously!) But the actual execution was... just not great.
*
There was so much about this that was just unrealistic. But not in a "suspend disbelief" kind of way, in a "was this even edited?" way. Inconsistencies in the plot, the characters, it made it so I had a really hard time with any expectations, but not in a good way. I also didn't understand the show at all - the reader never finds out the rules or parameters. And only 4 contestants to compete for $1 million? And if it's only supposed to last a matter of hours (starts at sundown and they'll be done off the island before a storm starts at midnight), why did the main character buy and bring all this survival gear? I won't mention the others to avoid spoilers.
*
There's also a lot going on outside the world of this survival game, which ultimately ends up being necessary but feels like filler for the majority of the book.
*
On a positive note, this was a really fast read. It was exciting, and I think if you don't think about the plot holes, it could be enjoyable. But I couldn't get past the inconsistencies.

Thank YOU so much to @htp_hive and @htpbooks for this ARC as a part of your influencer program! I am so thankful to be a part of The Hive! 🐝⁠
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An abandoned island, a raging storm, & a reality show with a hide-and-seek contest-- where do I sign up to read this?! That's truly how I felt. I loved the synopsis, I loved the cover, but unfortunately I did not love the book.⁠
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I know reality shows can literally be anything these days but the more I read the more unrealistic this whole thing felt. The show was completely unorganized which I suppose was part of it but if this was technically a successful company with millions of followers so it just didn't make sense. ⁠
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A contestant, Adele, who is a single mom because her husband abandoned their family due to being a criminal & is currently on the run, signs up for the show in hopes to cash in on the million dollar prize. She has two teenagers at home I just feel like there is so much going on. ⁠😵‍💫
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I didn't like anyone on the Extreme Team but one person & if you read it I'm sure you'll know who I mean.⁠
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The book jumped around a lot & even though I was happy with the ending, I feel like it took the whole book for something to actually happen. There were certain things not explained either which left me with questions. ⁠⁉️
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I feel like this book had so many good ideas but they didn't come together for me. ⁠☹️

✨ARC Book review! ✨
Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 by Lisa Unger

What I liked: the overall concept really got me excited to read this book! I loved the idea of a high stakes hide and seek game in a desolate island. Some of the characters were really likable and I couldn't help rooting for them.

What I didn’t like: There was a lot lacking with this one. It was still a fun read, but I was let down that there wasn't more of the actual game. It was such an important part of the start of the book and then when it came time to play, it was ignored for what was going on behind the scenes. The person behind it all was a bit predictable too, but there were some good twists thrown in that made up for that.

Read if you like: binging Mr. Beast's games, Squidgame, or if you despise influencer culture
Would I recommend?: maybe? Some of her other books were better

Star rating: 3 stars

Thank you @netgalley for my copy! I love a survival story and one on an island always ends in mayhem. I also enjoyed the aspect of Influencers on an island with this one. There were lots of good ideas here, but I felt like they were not completely worked through. I felt like a spiritual aspect or a cult aspect could have been added to make this one more fun. All in all I will always pick up an Unger. This just wasn't my favorite.

DNF’d this one. I love LU but this one started off on a good note then became obnoxious then became really boring. Won’t be posting to any sites because I do love the author and will continue to promote the author I just can’t do this book.

Single mom Adele joins an extreme hide-and-seek competition hosted by daredevil social media star Maverick Dillan. But when a storm hits, the game spirals into chaos, and Maverick’s crew starts turning on each other. Cue the drama.

First off, can we talk about the cover? Obsessed.

So although I loved badass mom Adele, her son Blake was everything! What a sweetheart - this was so his story!!! I loved his growth and was easily the most likable character.

On the flip side - Maverick and his crew!! Narcissistic psychopaths - but for me, not the fun, layered kind.

The competition itself felt… off. Only three contestants, no body cameras and I wasn’t even sure of the rules. I know Hide-and-Seek online competitions exist but this didn’t appear to capture the reality.

Petra and the mercenaries brought more chaos—mainly in my mind! And Adele’s on-the-run husband was maybe a puzzle piece too many.

That said, the finale was epic! Suddenly I cared, and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. The final showdown was so dramatic! I loved it - but I also found the motivations behind it were kind of murky.

While this one didn’t fully hit the mark for me, fans of YA vibes might enjoy it. The ending definitely brought some fun, even if the rest felt a bit messy.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for access to this eBook ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Lisa a go to author for me because I usually love her books. While this one is not my favorite of her books, I did still enjoy it.

Pros: I loved the setting and the fast pacing.
Cons: so many characters and so much going on! I wish we got to see more of the game.

Overall, I had to go back and reread a few parts. Some of the characters were just too similar for me. Like I said, I still enjoyed it but the bar is high for me with Lisa’s books and this one is middle of the pack. Out soon for anyone looking for a fast paced, twisty read!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Lisa Unger and publishers for the opportunity to read this ARC! Close Your Eyes and Count to 10" takes readers on a thrilling journey through a game of hide and seek in an abandoned hotel on a secluded island! Maverick and his team at Extreme are orchestrating this high-stakes game to save themselves, while the contestants grapple with their personal demons, all vying to prove their worth and win a million dollars!

Where do I even begin with this book? It was absolutely captivating! The suspense, the mystery, the intrigue! Each character's storyline intricately weaves together, enhancing the overall narrative. There was so much happening, yet it flowed seamlessly, making it easy to follow. I managed to uncover a few twists, but the writing was so compelling that it didn't diminish my enjoyment! I simply couldn't put this book down; I was eager to see what would unfold next!

The set up:
A secluded island, a crumbling building, an extreme game of hide and seek, an online adventure seeker who is known to for his wild and crazy stunts, a missing girl from the last event, and a huge storm approaching.

Adele is a mother of 2 kids. Her husband is on the run, after stealing from his company.. She decides to enter an extreme hide and seek game where the prize is a million dollars. She hopes to win to get money to help her kids. Malinka and Wild Cody are the 2 other contestants, also trying to win the prize.
This story is told from many POV, but they are easy to follow. This is more of a slow burn mystery, in a somewhat locked room environment. The beginning was slow with the introduction of many characters. However, the 2nd part of the story picked up the pace racing to the end.
I always look forward to a new Lisa Unger novel. and this did not disappoint. While this was not my favorite novel of hers, I did enjoy it and I recommend it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/Park Row books for the ARC of this book.

If you are a fan of reality tv, survival shows, multiple 9pov’s, suspense, and slow burns; then this one is for you.

Contestants sign up for the ultimate game of hide and seek on the secluded Falcoa Island. As the players gather on the island the event quickly spirals into a battle for survival.

While I liked the idea of this book, the multiple povs along with trying to incorporate the chartacter’s pasts made it a bit hard to follow and confusing. This one also didn’t pick up until at least halfway through, so have some patience. I did enjoy it and found myself thinking about what would happen next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trad Publishing for the advanced readers copy. I would recommend this one to Lisa Unger fans!

Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 is a thrilling rollercoaster ride that blends psychological suspense with a modern-day survival game. Lisa Unger crafts a story that feels like it’s part reality show, part psychological maze, all while keeping readers on edge. The plot centers on Adele, a single mother who unknowingly becomes a player in an influencer-driven game on a remote island. What starts as a social media stunt quickly spirals into a deadly battle for survival.

Unger excels at weaving tension and intrigue, turning the game into a twisted test of trust, memory, and self-preservation. The characters are compelling, though Adele’s journey from innocent participant to reluctant survivor is where the real suspense lies.

Though the pacing occasionally stalls amid a few over-explained twists, the payoff is worth it. If you love suspense with a dash of social media and survival stakes, this book is your perfect guilty pleasure.

This novel by Lisa Unger wraps betrayal, suspense, competitiveness, scandal, and the social media/online world into a crazy, suspenseful ride. Maverick has always been used to being the center of the action. His world unravels when he takes his Extreme team to a small island. Adele is a single mom who had come to compete in Maverick's most recent Hide and Seek challenge for a million dollars on the island. Although Adele doesn't get to compete, she finds the strength in herself to face her past and help her children move on. Super suspenseful and surprising!

What a muddle of a thriller! It feels like an abandoned knitting project with random loose ends, dropped stitches, holes, and a lumpy shape. I assume some of it will be corrected before publication but as it stands, this is a bit of a mess, albeit one that kept me gripped for a lot of the way.

First muddle is - what is the main thread? We start off thinking it’s going to be about Adele - her husband disappeared five years ago leaving a wake of financial and social destruction. Since then, Adele has reinvented herself as a tough and resilient fighter and she is now a contestant in an Extreme Hide and Seek - first prize a million dollars. Ok, we think, this is going to be a survival thriller in the setting of a deserted and crumbling resort on an island. But we’d be wrong.

Because the game never really gets going and instead the focus turns to Maverick Dillon and his Extreme game company. They’ve been dogged by bad vibes since a contestant in a previous hide and seek disappeared. They really need this game to go well to shore up their finances, but someone is haunting Mav’s social media feeds, threatening to expose the truth.

If you’re ok with that shift in focus, there’s a decent amount to enjoy with a murder and, of course, a terrible storm which threatens to flatten the hotel. But the whole thing sags a lot in the middle with way too much backstory, accusations, and explanations. It picks up towards the end but the denouement doesn’t stick the landing at all with no explanation of what actually happens and why. But against my better judgement - it’s pretty obvious who’s behind it all - I was riveted even if I was just racing to get to the end.

If you can put aside that a lot of the plot doesn’t make sense, the timeline is inconsistent, and some apparent lapses in authorial concentration, you might enjoy this but, honestly, there’s enough good thrillers around on a similar theme (Ruth Ware’s One Perfect Couple or Blair Braverman’s Small Game to name the two that came to mind) that I wouldn’t bother.

Thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

This had me captivated from the blurb alone. The storyline itself did not disappoint. It was a fresh idea with lots of suspense and twists and turns.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Park Row Books for allowing me to read an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 is the latest thriller from Lisa Unger and it doesn’t disappoint! It features an extreme but deadly game of hide-and-seek on a gorgeous island paradise.

Maverick Dillan is Extreme, both figuratively and literally, known for his high-octane stunts and games like hide-and-seek in haunted and dilapidated locations. He has invited 3 players — including struggling single mother Adele — to Enchantments on Falcao Island, for a chance to win one million dollars. But a bad storm is approaching the island, and someone is stalking the players and staff making the game more deadly. Plus everyone seems to be harboring dark secrets that the stalker and the storm seems intent on bringing to light, one way or another. It is a battle for both survival and money that blurs the lines between our virtual lives and our real ones.

This book was SO GOOD! I loved that you didn’t know who you should trust, if anyone. I really liked Adele and the Girl Power message. I will definitely be recommending this book for my book club read for February!

I love a book that makes me wish they would make this into a movie. I could picture it as I read.

I loved the reality show type of feel and the names of the social media used.

I read this all day. I could NOT put this one down. I give this a definite 5⭐
Im gonna use my own rating system.
5📕📕📕📕📕

My favorite line....We're worthy of life and love because of who we are, not because of what we do. You are enough, Malinka. I wish someone had told me that when I was younger.

This is my last attempt with this author. She is just not for me. I was not intrigued. I was mostly annoyed. And. I’m over it.

thank you so much for the early eARC of this one! lisa unger is such a talented author. unfortunately i just couldn't get into this one. i DNF'd around 20% -- i just wasn't enjoying it and felt the premise and how it all was drawn up, was a bit far-fetched. the characters were all getting on my nerves too and i just couldn't push through. i appreciate the early copy so much and i will still read from this author in the future!!

I’m not a big fan of “survivor style” plots but I did like the storyline to this one. I loved the characters and enjoyed the ending.

Lisa Unger's latest does not disappoint! It was an edge of your seat page turner that gained momentum as the story unfolded. A game of hide and seek ensues on a stormy island, and the surviving influencer wins the big cash prize. Who can be trusted? Will alliances be formed? We learn more about each character and what brought them to the island as well as the creators of the reality show and their backstories. I enjoyed how the plot progressed and the pace of the storyline. The ending of the story tied up loose ends and brought resolution to the novel. I really enjoyed this book! Thank you to NetGalley and Park Row for the ARC!